MIAD Positive Illustration
Compliance - Ryan Legacy
Medium: Mechanical Pencil & Colored Pencil on Illustration Board Size: 37.9cm X 25.2cm Completed: November 29, 2017 This piece is demonstrating the conflict between "Man V. Machine", and showing the benefits of machinery through the aid of technology to people who have sustained injuries or traumas. The butterfly and the scene with father and son is symbolic of the freedom and life that machinery has given them, as well as implying the control people possess over machines. My inspiration, Norman Rockwell's "The Tattoo Artist", was used to translate the characters and the message I had within the work. |
Inspiration
Norman Rockwell's "The Tattoo Artist" -1994
Rockwell's illustration "The Tattoo Artist" was a work that he produced for the Saturday Evening Post, a magazine line occurring during and after World War II; his work became significantly recognized after the end of WWII.
Norman Rockwell used photographs that he took of people as reference when doing any of his work, and usually used the exact same people and positions and replicated them to the exact detail, only altering slight details or adding a few objects to make the image look more appeal and/or breath more life into the environment and people.
In the original photograph for this work, it was almost exactly as shown here in his final sketch, with the tattoo artist leaned forward wearing the same clothing, and the tall man in the back standing tall, but smiling instead of having a straight face; he was smiling as it's been noted that the man getting the tattoo is one of Rockwell's friends who served in the war - hence the clothing that implies him being in a military uniform.
Rockwell's illustration "The Tattoo Artist" was a work that he produced for the Saturday Evening Post, a magazine line occurring during and after World War II; his work became significantly recognized after the end of WWII.
Norman Rockwell used photographs that he took of people as reference when doing any of his work, and usually used the exact same people and positions and replicated them to the exact detail, only altering slight details or adding a few objects to make the image look more appeal and/or breath more life into the environment and people.
In the original photograph for this work, it was almost exactly as shown here in his final sketch, with the tattoo artist leaned forward wearing the same clothing, and the tall man in the back standing tall, but smiling instead of having a straight face; he was smiling as it's been noted that the man getting the tattoo is one of Rockwell's friends who served in the war - hence the clothing that implies him being in a military uniform.
Blade Runner (1921)
When going through my planning process for both my positive and negative piece, one other inspiration from the sci-fi genre that takes the concept of Man V. Machine was Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner, which I decided to utilize after doing a personal film-study on the original film; this led me to bringing those aspects of that universe into my own.
In my positive piece, I wanted to apply more of the theme of Man V. Machine through the idea of man trying to control machinery. When working on the practice piece I had the man's face be muted to demonstrate how man - the father/inventor - has control of the machine. (To clarify, the man getting the arm is not a robot, he's a "hybrid"; in the positive it demonstrates his robotic side, and in the negative I wanted to show his human side)
A direct correlation I incorporated form this film was of the character and the scene's of the inventor with his robotic servants, but put it in a twist of how he builds these individual parts - in this case an arm - for the benefit of people. A small example of the "inventor" side of the father is from the butterfly in the piece.
When going through my planning process for both my positive and negative piece, one other inspiration from the sci-fi genre that takes the concept of Man V. Machine was Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner, which I decided to utilize after doing a personal film-study on the original film; this led me to bringing those aspects of that universe into my own.
In my positive piece, I wanted to apply more of the theme of Man V. Machine through the idea of man trying to control machinery. When working on the practice piece I had the man's face be muted to demonstrate how man - the father/inventor - has control of the machine. (To clarify, the man getting the arm is not a robot, he's a "hybrid"; in the positive it demonstrates his robotic side, and in the negative I wanted to show his human side)
A direct correlation I incorporated form this film was of the character and the scene's of the inventor with his robotic servants, but put it in a twist of how he builds these individual parts - in this case an arm - for the benefit of people. A small example of the "inventor" side of the father is from the butterfly in the piece.
Planning
During the planning phase, I had first worked on the father in the image, who in Rockwell's original artwork would be the tattoo artist. I stayed very close to the original design of the tattoo artist for the father, William Legacy, as I felt that it fit the personality of the father looking like a tinkerer, while still allowing him to keep the professional-aesthetic that he has as a business owner of a robotics company; it shows his weird balance between wackiness and creativity to his professionalism.
Then I started establishing the environment using a one-point perspective point, which can be faintly seen on the left in the middle, and worked on the chair, the cabinet, the hologram using a two-point perspective to have it connect to the projection, and then the windows.
Following that, I then decided to work on the main protagonist in both of the pieces: Ryan Legacy. With Ryan, I wanted to show how war-damaged he was from an accident he was involved in prior to the events of the story, and a large part of his mindset is reflected on his injuries, specifically within his metallic arm. It's a large part of his arc in how he views it as an aid given to him by his father, but also as a reminder of his past traumas.
The family photo was also very important to include, as it was a subtlety to the father-son connection these two have, and the negativity in the piece: the loss of the family (which may imply Ryan Legacy's injuries; that's for your interpretation).
While it is not shown here, something that was considered during the planning process and later added was the butterfly, which I also included into the negative piece. The butterfly was at first something that I wasn't going to include at all in either works - with a friend of mine rudely drawing one on my practice sketch for the positive work, but I then decided to implement it and give it a purpose. The reason why the Legacy family's last name is "Legacy" is because the story I'm truly telling is about choosing your path, which I felt related to butterflies through "The Butterfly Effect", and the branching paths that these characters have chosen; Ryan, on the other hand, is still figuring this out for himself, hence why he's in both works. Here it emphasizes more on the freedom of life and control of machinery that they both have; for Ryan, however, the idea of this technology reminds him of his past-traumas and losses (which is why he's numb in his expression).
(Please note the feet weren't finished)
Then I started establishing the environment using a one-point perspective point, which can be faintly seen on the left in the middle, and worked on the chair, the cabinet, the hologram using a two-point perspective to have it connect to the projection, and then the windows.
Following that, I then decided to work on the main protagonist in both of the pieces: Ryan Legacy. With Ryan, I wanted to show how war-damaged he was from an accident he was involved in prior to the events of the story, and a large part of his mindset is reflected on his injuries, specifically within his metallic arm. It's a large part of his arc in how he views it as an aid given to him by his father, but also as a reminder of his past traumas.
The family photo was also very important to include, as it was a subtlety to the father-son connection these two have, and the negativity in the piece: the loss of the family (which may imply Ryan Legacy's injuries; that's for your interpretation).
While it is not shown here, something that was considered during the planning process and later added was the butterfly, which I also included into the negative piece. The butterfly was at first something that I wasn't going to include at all in either works - with a friend of mine rudely drawing one on my practice sketch for the positive work, but I then decided to implement it and give it a purpose. The reason why the Legacy family's last name is "Legacy" is because the story I'm truly telling is about choosing your path, which I felt related to butterflies through "The Butterfly Effect", and the branching paths that these characters have chosen; Ryan, on the other hand, is still figuring this out for himself, hence why he's in both works. Here it emphasizes more on the freedom of life and control of machinery that they both have; for Ryan, however, the idea of this technology reminds him of his past-traumas and losses (which is why he's numb in his expression).
(Please note the feet weren't finished)
Process, Ideas, and Intentions
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After finalizing my ideas for the piece, I started by replicating the positioning of the two main characters from the original planning sketch over to the illustration board, which took three tries before getting them accurately replicated; on the board, Ryan Legacy's proportions were more accurate here than in the practice sketch, where he was too tall for his scale compared to his father (I could still argue that his torso and arms are slightly too large, but I digress).
Afterwards, I focused on building and establishing the actual room around the two characters, by adding the floor line and the perspective point, then starting on the furniture in the room. First I worked on their chairs, then the cabinet and the detail-work - both within and on top of it, then finished the floorboards and added in the framework for the windows. |
Next came the coloring, which was the experimentation of the work, and where the piece started to lose its value visually to me. While the detail-work with the coloring works very well on the left-half of the image, I noticed how the left half at the cabinet is lacking due to the poor choose of color-combinations that I did, more so with the odd cluster of blue's and greens in the monitor on the top right, the three-colored wires, and the gold trimming; I discovered too late that it just didn't work very well together. I don't think it distracts from the good shown in William and Ryan Legacy.
Experimentation
The experimentation that I had done in this piece would have to be the coloring of the work - in comparison to the negative work's experimentation using only shades of gray. While I think that the seats turned out great with the blending of colors, and two main characters in the piece - the protagonist Ryan Legacy, and his father William Legacy - through the shading of their clothing and skin tones, the rest of the surrounding environment needs improving in its coloring and shading, and beyond the window's I needed to add an environment, which I thought would actually distract from the piece's focus (note that both of these things I took into consideration when developing the negative piece).
Critique
When it comes to reflecting on how closely the work connects to my inspiration, I was able to successfully translate the composition of Rockwell's piece with the positioning of his characters and detail work presented in both, with minor tweaks made throughout to work with the perspective in the image.
Reflection
I think that this has many positives and negatives. While many others have said that it is very good (including Mr. Chad himself) I think that the piece has some weak points that don't make it worth as much praise as it gets. The biggest issue I have with the work is that the color distracts away from that detail in some places; it turned out very good on the two main characters: William and Ryan Legacy, with it being the last thing that I colored and shaded in, but the notice of where the coloring doesn't work is obviously in the earlier sections of coloring in the environment (however, the butterfly on the ground turned out great due to the high-contrast with color and detail in line-work). I think in some areas it's okay - not great, and in the windows looked slightly rushed with it falling out of the lines. The characters and the setting also don't seem to cohesively tell the story I'm alluding to - one that connects as cleanly to the negative one just through the visuals alone - and is vague to where it almost forces you to search for the story. The lack of an actual environment beyond the room itself may be a factor into why the story is lost.
Now, to give myself some credit, I stuck very closely to my inspiration work and successfully replicated it, and the line-work where it shows turned out fantastic, as I put a lot of time and detail into the work. However, I've learned from this that I may stick to black and white/gray gradient's when working with detailed works like these until I improve in my blending and coloring technique's using color. (I also have a better idea I'd do for the piece that'd utilize my negative work's inspiration)
Now, to give myself some credit, I stuck very closely to my inspiration work and successfully replicated it, and the line-work where it shows turned out fantastic, as I put a lot of time and detail into the work. However, I've learned from this that I may stick to black and white/gray gradient's when working with detailed works like these until I improve in my blending and coloring technique's using color. (I also have a better idea I'd do for the piece that'd utilize my negative work's inspiration)
ACT Responses
- Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its affect upon your artwork: I was able to identify the cause-effect relationship of my piece to my inspirations through the replication of the character's positions and through the message I was conveying about the cooperation with man and machine, and showing how man is still in power.
- What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration: Regarding the topic of the inspiration, Norman Rockwell's amount of detail was something that I deeply admired; the positions of the characters was also very telling for the story that Rockwell was showing between his two characters.
- What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration: What I've learned about society through inspiration is more so the past traumas that people have, and how the literally will etch something - like a tattoo onto there arm in remembrance of that event. It translates nicely into the internal conflict that is going on with Ryan Legacy.
- What was the central idea of theme around your inspirational research: The central theme of my piece was "Man versus Machine" and the idea of the good machinery can bring to help people, but in the story's context show its rupture in one's identity. While Rockwell's work doesn't touch upon the theme of technology or machinery in any way, it does touch upon the thematic story ideas of establishing identity through the tattoo being placed on the arm; my work shows the ownership the "tattoo artist", or father, has on his son through the arm.
- What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research: In my inspiration, I was able to note the simplicity of the story being told in The Tattoo Artist, and apply that directly into the work through the characters actions and expressions, somewhat aided by the environment.
Citation (MLA)
Norman Rockwell's "Tattoo Artist" (Info and Image): “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera.” Brooklyn Museum, www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/norman_rockwell.
Blade Runner (Image): “Blade Runner (1982).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/.
Blade Runner (Image): “Blade Runner (1982).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/.